Rebels Overrun Military Post in Northeast Syria

Syrian rebel fighters have killed at least 18 soldiers as they overran a military post, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The attack targeted a military post of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad near Syria's northeastern border with Turkey on Wednesday, international media reported.

The clashes - which also left an unknown number of soldiers wounded - took place near Ras al-Ain, a border town located in the province of Hasakeh that the opposition fighters seized on Friday, according to the Observatory.

Three rebels were killed and more than 10 wounded, said the watchdog, which relies on a network of activists, lawyers and medics in civilian and military hospitals.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since March 2011 when an Arab Spring-style civil unrest movement started attempts to remove the regime of Bashar al-Assad; the Syrian civil war has claimed between 20 000 and 37 000 lives in more than 1.5 years, according to various estimates.